GSBA Vision & Mission

MISSION: To combine business development, leadership and social action to expand economic opportunities for the LGBT Community and those who support equality for all.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Your Chamber Working for You: 2015 GSBA Endorsements

In
keeping with our commitment to invest in transportation and tourism and remove
barriers as well as increase access to employment, the GSBA Board of Directors,
with input from Public Policy Task Force, has endorsed the following pieces of
legislation recently passed or currently pending in Olympia:

Funding for High
Capacity Transportation Service (SB 5128)

GSBA joins a wide spectrum of Puget Sound region business,
nonprofits and citizens of all kinds in calling for the Legislature to give
Sound Transit the authority to run a ballot measure to fund expansion of our
regional transit system (referred to as Sound
Transit 3). To support our rapidly growing population, we must ensure that
our employees can get to their jobs, that our customers can reach our
businesses and that our products can move efficiently throughout the region,
supporting high capacity transportation is essential to our economy and our
livelihoods.

While the Board endorsed SB 5128 specifically, the Sound
Transit authorization may appear in modified form as part of other legislation
during the negotiation process.

Long Term Funding of
Statewide Tourism (HB 1938, SB 5916)

Washington is the only state without a tourism office, and
our beautiful, vibrant home is missing out compared to our neighbors who
recognize the incredible value of tourism marketing: $18.7 million in Alaska,
$14.2 million in Montana, $13.7 million in Oregon, $8 million in Idaho, and a
whopping $48.9 million in British Columbia. Zero in Washington.

With our Travel Gay Seattle initiative, increasing funding
for LGBT tourism has been a GSBA priority for years. Even small investments in
tourism marketing have returns well above what is spent. This bill establishes a system to collect
annual fees from businesses in five tourism industry sectors most impacted by
tourism (lodging, food service, attractions, transportation and retail), which
will be used to implement a long-term, sustainable statewide tourism marketing
program. The tourism industry, led by the Washington Tourism Alliance, helped
craft this system and we are proud to join our partners across the state to
increase our investment and bring more visitors to our wonderful home.

Many Washingtonians who have criminal records and have paid
their debt to society face tremendous barriers in reentering the workforce.
They are legally prevented from getting a professional license in Washington
State and face automatic rejection from many employers. Without work, they
cannot afford to provide for themselves and their families and face a greater
likelihood of recidivism. At some point, we have to open the door to
opportunity and allow people to move on with their lives so they can contribute
fully to our community and economy.

The Certificate of Restoration of Opportunity (CROP) bill is
intended to remove barriers to occupational licenses for qualified applicants
with a criminal history. An individual has the ability to go to a judge, show
that they have complied with all the terms of their sentence (incarceration,
counseling, anger management, etc) and that they have led a law-abiding life
and are in good standing for a certain number of year. The judge can sign the
certificate attesting to the individual’s rehabilitation and then they cannot
be denied an application for an occupational licensed based on their criminal
history alone provided they are otherwise qualified and suitable for the
license.

GSBA first supported this bill last year, and we continue to
support this bill because it deals with employment and has a particular
resonance for the LGBT community, with our disproportionate LGBT youth homeless
population. Those who have fully completed their sentencing must be allowed the
opportunity to move on and reenter society rather than be forever ostracized.

The YEAR Act builds on 2014’s Youth Opportunities Act which
allows juvenile court records to beouseHouse
sealed for those who have completed requirements of sentencing and probation
and have paid all legal fees and restitution. Washington remains one of only a
few states that does not automatically seal juvenile records. The YEAR Act
gives former juvenile offenders with limited financial resources the ability to
have their records seal just like those who can afford to pay the penalties and
fees. Judges will have the discretion to determine the appropriate course of
action regarding financial obligations, such as substituting a monetary penalty
for community service. Class A felonies, violent crimes and sexual crimes are
not eligible for sealing.

GSBA voted to support this bill for similar reasons as the
CROP bill. With LGBT youth disproportionately represented among the homeless
population, our community should be particularly concerned with juvenile
justice system. Homeless youth are unlikely to have the financial resources to
pay the financial obligations in full, whereas many middle class juvenile
offenders can have the costs covered by their families. They often face charges
for crimes of survival and need to be able to pay their debts and be offered a
second chance.